1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a disc drive apparatus for recording information signals on and/or reproducing information signals from a disc-shaped recording medium. More particularly, the present invention relates to a disc drive apparatus to be incorporated in the outer cabinet of a host appliance such as a personal computer, a DVD recorder or a game appliance so as to be used integrally with the host appliance and also to an electronic appliance incorporating such a disc drive apparatus.
This application claims priority of Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-028630, filed on Feb. 4, 2004, and Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-111447, filed on Apr. 5, 2004, the entireties of which are incorporated by reference herein.
2. Description of Related Art
Thin disc drive apparatus mounted in a drive bay of the outer cabinet of a host appliance such as a note type or desk-top type personal computer have been and being used for recording information signals on and/or reproducing information signals from an optical disc such as a CD (compact disc) or a DVD (digital versatile disc). Such a disc drive apparatus has an apparatus main body that is formed by a pair of halves including an upper half and a lower half so as to show dimensions that correspond to the size of the standardized drive bay and integrated with the host appliance as it is incorporated into the drive bay of the host appliance. The disc drive apparatus is driven to operate as drive power is supplied from the host appliance (see, inter alia, Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent No. 3280321).
Such a disc drive apparatus is typically provided with a receiving section for receiving a disc-shaped recording medium and a disc tray movable between the inside and the outside of the apparatus main body so as to removably receive a disc-shaped recording medium in a limited space and transfer it to a recording position and/or a reproducing position. The disc tray is provided with a base unit as integral part thereof, which base unit includes a disc rotary drive mechanism for chucking a disc-shaped recording medium placed on the receiving section and driving the recording medium to rotate and an optical pickup mechanism for recording information signals on and/or reproducing information signals from the disc-shaped recording medium.
A disc-shaped recording medium is caught by the disc rotary drive mechanism as it is placed on the receiving section of the disc tray that is drawn out from the apparatus main body and then stored in the disc drive apparatus as the disc tray is pushed into the apparatus main body. Subsequently, the optical pickup mechanism reads information signals from the disc-shaped recording medium, which information signals are then output to the host appliance, or records the information signals supplied from the host appliance.
However, with the above described known disc drive apparatus, once the disc-shaped recording medium is contained in the apparatus main body, it is not possible to see and confirm the type of the disc-shaped recording medium received in the apparatus main body unless the disc tray is drawn out. From the user's viewpoint, he or she often turns off the main power switch of the host appliance after placing the disc-shaped recording medium in the disc drive apparatus. Then, if the user wants to see and confirm that the disc-shaped recording medium placed in the apparatus main body is really the one he or she wants to use, the user has to turn on the main power switch of the host appliance once again and draw out the disc tray.
Once the main power switch is turned on, some host appliances may consume considerable power and time before the main power switch is turned off. Therefore, it will be very convenient to the user if he or she can make sure that a disc-shaped recording medium is contained in the disc drive apparatus and, if it is, identify the disc-shaped recording medium contained in the disc drive apparatus from the outside of the host appliance.